The items, which also came from Haiti, Australia, New Guinea and Peru, were collected by Donald Miller of Waldron over eight decades, FBI Special
Agent Robert Jones said at a news conference.

"The cultural value of these artifacts is immeasurable," Jones said while refusing to disclose details of any of the individual items taken from
Miller's property.

Some items were acquired improperly, but Miller, who traveled extensively, obtained others legally or before laws affecting them were on the books,
Jones said. Federal authorities will attempt to repatriate items with their rightful owners, he said.

Miller told CBS News that he "absolutely" has rightful ownership of the artifacts and that he was cooperating with the FBI's investigation.

"I have been in 200 countries collecting artifacts," he said.

It was unclear whether he would face any criminal charges, Jones said.

We are living in a time where we the commoners can have nothing. We truly own nothing but our debt and it's how the controlling factions want us. We
are slaves pure and simple and the older I get and the longer I live on this planet the more this becomes true to me.

I hope this elderly man who has spent his life collecting these artifacts gets to keep them, but I'm pretty sure anything of value will be taken
under the premise that it's stolen. Ugggggh it just p!$$3$ me off to no end!

The FBI says they will be giving the stuff to the rightful owner. Miller says he's the rightful owner so if that's true he should be able to keep
it. Apparently the FBI suspects he may not be the rightful owner of all of it, but there is a court system to settle disputes like that, though it's
probably not easy for a 91 year old to have to go through that.

We went fossil hunting in Ontario Canada a bunch of years back. I've got a kids beach bucket full of millions-of-year-old ocean floor fossils. I
wonder if the Canadian Mounted Police are going to come knocking on my door looking to get their treasures back. (we rescued them from a quarry floor
... all the millions-of-years-old fossils were being ground into cement)

This story makes me pretty angry. I cannot agree that taking stuff from an old man at this stage of his life is the right thing to do. Let the
gaffer die ... and then make proper disposition if required.

What are they trying to do ... upset him into an early grave??

why don't they give Bernie Madoff a couple more years in the pen if they just
wanna pick on someone?

Seizing is very unjustified in my opinion. Does the FBI have the right to come into my home and "seize" my furniture until I can provide sufficient
proof that I aquired it in a legal manner?

No... so why do they have the right to seize this man's collection? It's the same premise, just because his are artifacts and mine is furniture does
not make any difference... unless they can prove wrongdoing they cannot just seize every single piece, and wrongdoing on one piece does not mean every
piece was acquired in incorrect manner.

The FBI cannot seize my stuff to "catalogue" it all and make me prove its really mine, so they cannot do it to this man either.

The Fourth Amendment
The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated,
and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the
persons or things to be seized.

The FBI can only seize what is in the warrant to be seized, specifically detailed. They cannot have a blanket, every artifact in this man's
home...

Wait. Does the FBI not have anything better to do than mess up an elderly man's house and confiscate his travel souvenirs?

For crying out loud. I can't hardly believe it, but I do, and it blows my mind. The cost to the taxpayers for this ridiculous raid?
I won't be suprised if they keep all his stuff, send out an FBI team to find the origins of each one, this drags on for years - and then, if they
gentleman is still alive, bill him for the FBI work (subtract it from the value of his things)....

seriously? This is all they can come up with??
Disgraceful. Stupid. Irrelevant. They should raid all of the big bank CEO homes/yachts/planes, seize everything, and freeze their assets - putting all
of it toward the national debt.

So how about my ancient coin collection? If they find out about that *waves at the fbi* will they take that too? Or my ancient manuscripts and stuff?
How about my 2000 year old Roman key ring, still has patina on it. Is that to be taken as well?

would you like my old worn out shoes? they're old but really comfy and i love them.

FlyersFan
We went fossil hunting in Ontario Canada a bunch of years back. I've got a kids beach bucket full of millions-of-year-old ocean floor fossils. I
wonder if the Canadian Mounted Police are going to come knocking on my door looking to get their treasures back. (we rescued them from a quarry floor
... all the millions-of-years-old fossils were being ground into cement)

Not to worry, this thread is about cultural artifacts, not fossils
(and archaeologists don't dig up dinosaurs...but I digress). Provenance matters.

ManBehindTheMask
So the FBI in all their authority decide to come in and raid this 91 year old mans home and take all his stuff.....WHY?

That's the $64,000 question. I searched for more stories about this because I wanted to see how the FBI came to be aware of Mr. Miller and what he
had been charged with. Here's something from the local paper:

The aim of the investigation is to determine what each artifact is, where it came from and how Miller obtained it, Jones said, to determine
whether some of the items might be illegal to possess privately.

Allow me to translate, they're on a fishing expedition. Mr. Miller hasn't been arrested or charged with anything, the FBI won't even say how they
came to be aware of the collection and they are occupying not only Mr. Miller's land but apparently all buildings on the land, removing property, and
they're not even sure he did anything wrong. This is shameful.

This is extemely interesting to me. They never even name any of the items. I suppose there are items which i would agree should not be in any private
collection. Especially if they are not being taken care of (i.e. Very old manuscripts, paintings, idk, other things)
I assume this is one reason folks turn things over to museums or private restoration firms.

I am also going to assume that some of these items are known or at least claimed to be stolen or otherwise wrongfully acquired. He may not have stolen
them, he may have bought them from someone who did though.

Another thing is even if you take items out of the ground, if the area is a registered archeological site, then those items are stolen.

Im sure most here can imagine some things that are so important culturally, they should not be taken from the country and people that it is relevant
too.

All that being said, i think its important to know what kind of items we are talking about. My guess is some of these things came from registered dig
sites. That could put the whole collection up for scrutiny.

When I saw the title I thought he must have been a Nazi and they had been following leads on stolen art, that's not the case here at all it seems.

I bet they'd like to go through my step dad's artifact collection. He's a a surface collector of Native artifacts and is involved with the local
archeology society, he's been collecting for years. Antiques and such as well, all related to the local history of his area. He goes to all the
estate sales so who can verify the provenance of what he purchases unless he does somehow.

The bottom line here is what does the guy have that is possibly illegally obtained and what evidence or testimony is being used to pursue this
"case"?

WoodcarverIm sure most here can imagine some things that are so important culturally, they should not be taken from the country and
people that it is relevant too.

All that being said, i think its important to know what kind of items we are talking about. My guess is some of these things came from registered dig
sites. That could put the whole collection up for scrutiny.

I think most people share your view regarding stolen property but the culturally significant thing here is that Mr. Miller's Fourth Amendment rights
are being trampled. If the FBI had named even one suspected stolen item and then discovered others in plain sight that would be one thing but they
haven't named anything, in fact they're on record as saying that they have to go through the collection in order to determine if anything is
illegally present in the collection. They're literally camped out on his land, allowing civilians onto the property who have no business being on the
property because Mr. Miller hasn't been charged with anything.

This content community relies on user-generated content from our member contributors. The opinions of our members are not those of site ownership who maintains strict editorial agnosticism and simply provides a collaborative venue for free expression.